Electric Trucks Change the Way Chicago Collects Trash

Chicago city streets are set to be the first in the nation to pick up its garbage with zero-emission, all-electric trucks thanks to the $13.4 million contract granted the San Francisco Bay Area startup Motiv Power Systems. The scalability and flexibility of the Motiv electric Powertrain Control System (ePCS) made the company the most cost-effective choice for the exclusive 5-year contract. Currently the only technology of its kind in the trucking market, the ePCS uses off-the-shelf batteries and motors, which can be mixed and matched to fit the exact size of the electric truck needed. The ePCS can handle EV trucks from medium-duty to Class 8 heavy-duty, weighing 15,000 lbs-52,000 lbs. Research suggests the ePCS design approach cuts operating costs by 50 percent over an eight-year period. With its medium-duty pilot shuttle, Motiv reduced operating cost from 80 cents per mile ($0.80/mi) to 10 cents per mile ($0.10/mi).

"We are thrilled that Chicago is driving the push for electric refuse trucks, and that our ePCS can be employed to create these revolutionary vehicles," said Shyam Nagrani, VP of Business Development and Marketing for Motiv. "Our ePCS can do what no other EV truck system can do, scale up and down to meet the exact needs of any fleet using a conventional chassis. These EV refuse trucks will provide the streets of Chicago with quiet, emissions-free garbage pick-up, without submitting residents to excessive diesel pollution or loud noise. Who wants to be woken up at 5 AM by an idling garbage truck?"

In total, the City of Chicago has 600 garbage trucks in operation. Recently at the 2012 High-Efficiency Truck Users Forum, Chicago said it evaluated the option of hybrid and compressed natural gas (CNG) refuse trucks before requesting bids for the 20 electric trucks. The city ultimately found that its garbage routes did not enable hybrid or CNG vehicles to be financially viable, and turned to the all-electric option to meet its needs. The city confirmed this analysis by placing a hybrid garbage truck into service.

Motiv has been validating its ePCS since March 2012 with an all-electric pilot bus. Funded by a grant from the California Energy Commission, the 20 passenger bus contains 5 battery packs (125 kWh) which can provide a range of over 120 miles on a single charge.

The Motiv EV refuse trucks planned for Chicago will use the same ePCS system as the pilot bus, but include a larger motor, and 10 battery packs. The EV garbage trucks will also use an electric motor to drive the hydraulics system. The EV refuse trucks will weigh 52,000 lbs and have a range of more than 60 miles, with a total energy storage of 200 kWh.

"Scaling up from the medium-duty pilot bus to the Class 8 garbage truck is really just a matter of switching out components and re-packaging it onto the new chassis," said Jim Castelaz, CEO of Motiv. "We've designed the whole system to be compatible with any off-the-shelf motors and batteries, which are brought to a uniform operating standard by our software. If Chicago ever wants newer batteries, the old ones can be easily swapped out."

The Motiv ePCS is designed to be assembled by the existing diesel chassis infrastructure already established throughout the world. Motiv will work with its partner, Detroit Chassis, to install the ePCS on to a standard refuse chassis. The ePCS works with a wide variety of batteries and motors, which allows traditional truck chassis OEMs to assemble electric trucks on their current diesel truck assembly lines. Electric trucks equipped with Motiv's ePCS can offer over 100 miles range and a total cost of ownership 50% less than a diesel truck over an 8 year period.